Beirut, July 20th, 2016: Over the last few years, innovation and creativity have become crucial skills in order to achieve success and a sustainable economic growth. It’s no secret today that our country urges to maintain its fragile economic stability that is strongly correlated with the growth of family businesses which represent a vital part of the local private sector. Innovation is bound to be the key driver for success in the private sector. Stimulating creativity and exploring completely new and unknown territories, is guaranteed to increase the productivity of organizations.
A.N.Boukather holding has set the first milestone in that direction by launching ANB Innovation Unit in their Nahr El Mot headquarters. This program offers young specialized Interns the chance to be part of multidisciplinary teams and join ANB Innovation Unit for a nine weeks program along with continuous guidance and mentorship from a professional consultants in ‘design thinking’.
The purpose here is to create new products and innovative services in the industry that will cater for the consumers’ needs by applying ‘design thinking’ which is a human-centric approach that fosters innovation.
ANB Innovation Unit has been especially established for creative talents to solve business challenges by improving customers/users experience. The recruited talents have been grouped into multidisciplinary teams, all with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion to understand business challenges, analyze insights, and build innovative solutions that benefit both the consumers and the businesses.
This step comes in line with the growth of the Lebanese innovation ecosystem boosted by the circular 331 under the leadership of the central bank governor , essentially injecting the potential of $400 million to Lebanon’s knowledge economy sector, supporting human capital – especially the educated elite currently fleeing the country in bulk – by providing them with jobs, as well as encouraging the development of a successful startup ecosystem (accelerators, incubators, VCs, etc.), thereby positioning Lebanon as the tech hub of the region.
Anthony Boukather CEO of A.N.Boukather emphasizes that “this move is a proof that well established family businesses are keen on nurturing the innovation spirit which will give them the opportunity to create value for future generations”. Indeed, the main objective of this program is to reveal the entrepreneurial spirit inside the students and provide them with a framework for them to succeed.
Nicolas Boukather Chairman of ANB holding confirms: “The purpose of this Innovation Unit is to make the innovation process a second nature for the students, empowering them, so that they become the great leaders and managers of the future and contribute in positioning Lebanon as the tech hub of the region, while transforming intangible ideas into tangible assets “. As Tim Cook said once: “To not innovate is to die” and ANB believes that the innovation challenges nurture the company’s lifecycle; therefore the need for a strategic problem-solving approach with a different thinking and mindset is essential to foster the culture of innovation within ANB.
The process that students will acquire throughout the program has been so far proven to be the best tool that leads to innovation. It is a know-how that will be carried on throughout their professional lives, because it can be applied in all professions, sectors and channels. The entire “culture” of successful organizations should be built to encourage innovation. Creative problem solving gives that competitive edge that all businesses strive to achieve, it’s time to rethink and reset the culture!